According to the Texas Comptroller's Office there are three main parts to the property tax system in Texas:

An
appraisal district
in each county sets the value of property each year. A chief appraiser is the chief
administrator and operates the appraisal office.

A citizen board, called the
appraisal review board
, settles any disagreements between a property owner and the appraisal district
about a property's value.

Local taxing units
- city, county, school and special districts - decide how much money they will spend
by adopting a budget. Next, the units set tax rates that will raise the revenue
necessary to fund their budgets. The adopted budgets and the tax rates set to fund
the budgets determine the total amount of taxes that a person will pay.

The Texas Comptroller's Office states the property tax year has four stages: appraising taxable property,
protesting the appraised values, adopting the tax rates and collecting the taxes.

January 1 marks the beginning of property appraisal. What a property is used for
on January 1, market conditions at that time and who owns the property on that date
determine whether the property is taxed, its value and who is responsible for paying
the tax.

Between January 1 and April 30, the appraisal district processes applications for
tax exemptions, agricultural appraisals and other tax relief.

Around May 15, the appraisal review board begins hearing protests from property
owners who believe their property values are incorrect or who did not get exemptions
or agricultural appraisal. When the ARB finishes its work, the appraisal district
gives each taxing unit a list of taxable property.

In August or September, the elected officials of each taxing unit adopt tax rates
for their operations and debt payments. Several taxing units tax your property.
Every property is taxed by the county and the local school district. You also may
pay taxes to a city and to special districts such as hospital, junior college, water,
fire and others.

Tax Collection starts around
October 1
as tax bills go out.
Taxes are due upon receipt of the bill.

Failure to receive a tax statement
does not affect the validity of the tax, penalty or interest, the due date, the
existence of a tax lien, or any procedure to collect a tax.This is according to
Section 31.01 (g) of the Texas Property Tax Code.

If you receive a tax notice and a mortgage company is responsible for payment, please
write your loan number on the statement and mail to your mortgage company.

The deadline for paying the current year tax is
January 31 of the following year.
Example: 2007 taxes were due by January 31, 2008.

If you plan to mail your payment in late January, please be sure to
have the post office post
the envelope with a January postmark.
Note: the date of this postmark is the date that will be used as the date of payment
to your account

Current taxes that remain unpaid as of February 1 of the year following the year
in which they were imposed are delinquent and are assessed penalty and interest.
Penalty and interest apply on the delinquent tax as follows: (P&I applied according
to Section 33.01 of the Texas Property Tax Code).

February

7%

March

9%

April

11%

May

13%

June

15%

July

18%

+ 15% additional collection fee

August

19%

+ 15% additional collection fee

September

20%

+ 15% additional collection fee

Interest continues to accrue an additional one percent each month until taxes are
paid in full. Taxes not paid in full by June 30 will be referred to the delinquent
tax attorney for enforced collection. This is when the additional collection fee
of 15 percent will be added. At this time legal action may take place.

The delinquent tax attorney for Smith County and all but one of its jurisdictions
(TISD) is Linebarger, Goggans, Blair & Sampson, LLP. The delinquent tax attorney
for Tyler Independent School District is Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins &
Mott. Visit our
delinquent tax sale section
for more information